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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683681">Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regionalpancake/pseuds/Regionalpancake'>Regionalpancake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Picard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crew as Family, Dadmiral Picard, Emergency Holographic Band, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Karaoke, Look at these adorable losers being happy for once</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:28:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23683681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regionalpancake/pseuds/Regionalpancake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Raffi and Soji’s karaoke evening disturbs the rest of the crew aboard La Sirena.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agnes Jurati/Cristóbal Rios, Raffi Musiker &amp; Cristóbal Rios, Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I’m sorry this is fluff. Fluff-fluff. Weaponised, military grade fluff. Blame my neighbour who’s been <em>blasting</em> ABBA for the last 2 hours. That doesn’t sound like a long time until you realise that 2 hours is actually the equivalent of 47 eons in ‘ABBA years’. </p>
<p>I doff my cap to dolcewrites, purveyor of fine fic, who beat me to karaoke onboard La Sirena! And many thanks to lintila for betaing &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Seven stirred.</p>
<p class="p1">The music was lively, upbeat, and vibrated through the bulkhead with an insistence and enthusiasm that should be illegal this late at night. The xB groaned and rolled over, a tired arm reaching out for Raffi but found only cold sheets. It wasn’t like Raffi to be up this late, she thought, not without warning at least. If Raffi was pulling apart some new theory or digging through data then she’d be up all night, but there’d have been signs of that before now; a small mountain of coffee cups and a “Gimme another hour on this, babe?” pleading stare.</p>
<p class="p1">Seven ran a metal laced hand through her hair, trying to wrestle her mind awake. Finally, with a sigh, she got up out of bed to find her missing girlfriend.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Picard grumbled.</p>
<p class="p1">He’d fallen asleep in the holosuite again, slumped in the plush armchair by the fire. A hardback book lay open on the floor, dropped from tired fingers, it’s pages fluttered in the simulated draft from the empty fireplace. <em>What the hell was that noise?</em> he thought. He could hear drums. <em>There weren’t any drums in this holo…</em></p>
<p class="p1">Following the sound he opened the door to the main deck, the music spilling in as the door hissed open.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Elnor sighed.</p>
<p class="p1">Candlelight picked out the edges of his crosslegged form on the floor. Sword in hand. His dark hair reflected the warm, flickering light as his head turned curiously toward the door. His whispered evening recitation of the “Path to Truth” kept being interrupted by some strident music he didn’t have the words to describe.</p>
<p class="p1">Perhaps reciting the oaths 40 times would do? He could always make up the rest tomorrow.</p>
<p class="p1">That music.</p>
<p class="p1">That singing.</p>
<p class="p1">He hadn’t realised that humans even knew how to sing. He’d heard the Captain hum once or twice, when he thought he was alone, and Elnor had assumed that that was the extent of human vocal music.</p>
<p class="p1">A pointed ear angled to the door, Elnor picked out the muffled lyrics.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Autumn winds blowin' outside the window.”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Could this be a great work of Earth poetry?</p>
<p class="p1">Curious, he abandoned his meditation and set out to investigate.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Agnes ached.</p>
<p class="p1">The cyberneticist was to-the-bone exhausted from the days of sleepless work it had taken to save Picard. She had reached the point when sleep deprivation itself was contributing to her insomnia. Tired mind refusing to switch off. <em>How was that even possible?</em> she thought. What she wouldn’t give for a good rest. The EHH had kindly replicated her a new pair of cosy pyjamas, he’d selected a pattern with tiny cupcakes for polka dots. The soft material felt comforting on her skin. She’d gone to bed with a glass of milk.</p>
<p class="p1">Agnes tossed and turned before finally, finally, getting comfortable.</p>
<p class="p1">Bedtime. Peace.</p>
<p class="p1">Just as she felt warm and settled beneath her sheets an insistent bass riff stirred her back awake. <em>Why now? Did no one, no one, on this ship keep decent hours?</em></p>
<p class="p1">She sighed.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>That’s it.</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Sleep seemed a decreasing possibility so she might as well go see where the noise was coming from...</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Rios groaned.</p>
<p class="p1">The distant tones of Raffi’s singing were unmistakable. His ear had, grudgingly, become used to the sound over the years. Raffi was forever “discovering” songs from the federation archives; <em>they’ve been forgotten for a reason,</em> Rios used to point out.</p>
<p class="p1">The two of them didn’t talk about the dark couple of months when she’d got far too heavily invested in parody accordion ballads. He had eventually had to tell Raffi he’d lost that damned instrument, for his own sanity. In reality he’d sold her accordion to a Cardassian freighter captain as an ‘ancient Earth torture device’. The worst part was the Cardassian had believed him… he shook his head smiling at the memory.</p>
<p class="p1">Now, listening to the slightly distorted melody coming down the corridor, he recognised his old friend’s voice, enthusiastic and sometimes even in tune. With a frown, he realised there was another voice he couldn’t place and they even sounded good.</p>
<p class="p1">Pitch perfect good. Who the hell on board could sing like that? <em>This I have to see</em> he thought, hurriedly pulling a shirt on over his head.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="p1">Seven roughly laced her boots and ventured out towards the source of the sound, the mess hall maybe? Outside her quarters she glimpsed Jurati creeping down the hall in front of her. <em>Were those bunny slippers she was wearing?</em>  Seven took a moment to be thankful she’d pulled on clothes.</p>
<p class="p1">“Are you coming to see the singing?”</p>
<p class="p1">The boyish Romulan appeared out of the darkness behind her. It took all of her resolve not to jump. She’d been too busy processing the sight of the tiny, fluffy-slippered, cybernetics-genius to notice the black clad boy sneaking up behind her. Seven strained to pick out the voices echoing, along the hall. She smiled, identifying Raffi’s warm voice, and was that... Soji?</p>
<p class="p1">Rounding the corner to the center of the ship, Seven could see Picard leaning on the railing looking down at the mess. His features picked out in neon light that changed colour with the music. Spotting the rest of the crew, the Admiral gestured for them to join him.</p>
<p class="p1">As they converged on the railing around the lower deck, nothing could have prepared them for the private party they were walking in on. The music was clearer now, no longer muffled by bulkheads, it was bright and the tempo was infectious. Raffi and Soji, each with a mic in hand, stood side by side giving their everything to the melodramatic lyrics scrolling on a small holo viewscreen in front of them.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“And it makes me so depressed to see the gloom.”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Around them a full compliment of La Sirena’s Emergency Holograms joined in the fun.</p>
<p class="p1">The deep base riff was provided by Emil, the EMH’s eyes closed in concentration, strumming a bass guitar slung low against his waist.</p>
<p class="p1">Mr Hospitality spun elegantly in the space between them, his customary dark turtleneck paired with a black sequinned jacket, and he danced like a holo possessed. The EHH’s outrageously flared trousers flapping along with each precision calculated step.</p>
<p class="p1">Emmet glanced up and winked at the group of gawping spectators. Spinning his drumsticks expertly between tattooed fingers, clearly enjoying showing off for his new audience.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Me oprime con angustia el corazon!”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">He joined in with the song, long hair bouncing as he kept time, dripping cool.</p>
<p class="p1">Ian wiped holographic sweat off his brow with his rag as he spun the lighting rig round. Some sort of mirrored orb the EHH had slung between the railings lit up in a starburst, it flung dancing pinpricks of light to the edges of La Sirena’s decks.</p>
<p class="p1">Agnes leaned over the railing, disco ball streaking lights across her skin. Enoch, spotting his favourite cyberneticist, broke one hand away from his holographic keyboard to give her a cute wave. She waved back, suddenly very aware that she was in bunny slippers and cupcake pyjamas in front of the rest of the, fully dressed, crew.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“There's not a soul out there”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Soji crooned, eyes closed, her voice flawless and powerful despite her small frame.</p>
<p class="p1">Raffi caught Cris’ eye and, beaming, gestured enthusiastically at Soji.</p>
<p class="p1">‘Have you heard this?!’ Raffi mouthed over the deafening Emergency Holographic Band.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“No one to hear my prayer” </em>
</p>
<p class="p1"><em>That does it! </em>Rios thought as the music swelled. <em>No one upstages me on my own ship! </em></p>
<p class="p1">Not missing a beat, the Captain slid down the railings to the mess. Cris turned, eyes glittering, to Agnes up on the upper deck and beckoned her to him, his hips swaying.</p>
<p class="p1">Seven gulped. Raffi’s skin glowed as she sang, a sheen of sweat across her chest. The dancing lights traced along the contours of her body. <em>God she looked good,</em> Seven thought hungrily. Rios seemed to be dancing. <em>Guess it would be rude not to join at this point...</em></p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1"><em>Dancing! </em>thought Elnor, with delight, <em>I know how to do that!</em> The young Romulan swiftly descended the stairs in three nimble steps and then leapt up onto a mess table. Elnor moved gracefully, with a fighter’s elegance, perfectly in time. He’d look like a pro if it wasn’t for the irrepressible, puppyish grin on his face.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Won't somebody help me,</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>Chase the shadows away”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Seven strode toward the singers, heavy boots hitting the metal grate in time with Emmet’s steady drumbeat, single-mindedly heading toward Raffi. Target acquired. Raffi could hardly keep a straight face as Seven pressed closely behind her and began to dance. Strong confident hands held her waist, swaying with the beat. She could feel the blonde’s breath on the back of her neck. <em>What the hell were the next lyrics again…?</em></p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight” </em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Soji sang, eyes fluttering open and accidentally catching Picard’s gaze. She felt herself flush with embarrassment. He smiled warmly back, a proud parent at a particularly bizarre recital. The Admiral leaned heavily on the railing, chuckling, his fingers tapping along to the beat. He was going to have to tell Deanna and Will about this one. They might not believe him...</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>“Take me through the darkness,</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>To the break of the day”</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Rios, careful not to stand on Agnes’ slippered feet, led her to the centre of the mess hall. <em>Shit</em>. She hated dancing, she was in slippers for gods sake, but Cris’ confidence was infectious and it couldn’t hurt too much to join in right? Rios span her around and Agnes laughed. The first honest, proper laugh she could remember in a long while.</p>
<p class="p1">This was intoxicating. She beamed at Cris, doing her best to keep in time. <em>Wow, he could dance! How did he know how to dance? </em>The thought was swept out of her mind as as the song came to a strident climax and Cris dipped her over his arm, grinning wickedly. Her head spun, as a brief pause later he pulled her up, gently steadying her, faces close together.</p>
<p class="p1">Mr Hospitality, doing his best rendition of an out of breath dancer, applauded the singers.</p>
<p class="p1">“Ladies and gentlemen give it up for Raffi and Soji!”</p>
<p class="p1">The crew applauded, cheering. Turning, Rios, fingers to his lips, let out an ear piecing whistle of approval.</p>
<p class="p1">“Now we continue the evening’s entertainment with another 20th century classic: ‘Dancing Queen’!”</p>
<p class="p1">Agnes had never seen the EHH so utterly in his element. It was sweet, it must be nice for him to put his talents to proper use for once.</p>
<p class="p1">“Enoch, take it away!”</p>
<p class="p1">Enoch deftly ran a finger down his keyboard in a sharp glissando and the evening wore on. La Sirena; a tiny island of laughing and dancing out in the dark.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Look, none of us thought today was going to be a happy, sweaty, space-disco day but life is full of surprises :p Thanks for reading!</p>
<p>Emmet's Spanish ABBA lyrics from:<br/>lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/abba/dame_dame_dame_gimme_gimme_gimme_in_spanish.html</p></blockquote></div></div>
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